Social media, goals and expectations

Posted on May 19, 2009 by Tom

A lot of companies jump into social media with a childish enthousiasm that’s rarely seen with new initiatives.  It’s cheap, so why not take a chance right?  And they’re right, social media are great, but treat it like traditional media and you’re setup for failure.

It’s important that companies understand communicating isn’t a one way street anymore.  They can’t force a message through to their customers.  Customers expect something and social media give the possibilities to express that, they’re a lot more vocal and a lot less controllable.  It should still be a street, but with at least two lanes going the same direction

A company goal or what you want to accomplish by using social media is only usefull if it fits the customer’s expectation as well.  If you make shoes, all customers want black shoes and you keep promoting white shoes, it’ll result in companies who don’t understand why their goals aren’t being met and customers will be upset because even though they give advice, clearly they’re not listened to, so why bother? 

It’s great that a lot of companies adopt the idea of engaging in social media.  It creates a sense of openess that marketing can really use, a transparancy a lot of customers have been waiting for.  But both sides can only benefit from it when customer’s expectations run parallel with company goals.  A company will probably start later in the race, but at the end, both have to reach the same finish line, or they’ve ran a different race, with a different prize at the end.  It’s important that companies keep listening to customers, aren’t afraid of what they say or might say.  Whether it’s engaging with 10 customers or 100,000, there are no guidelines to what companies have to do, you just have to try your best and do it right.  Trust your customers even if you’re afraid of failure.  I still believe customers are forgiving, as long as you listen and respond.

You may want to read:

• Want your social media campaign to work? Don’t sell anything.
• 10 ways to convince your boss to go ’social media’
• Social media, not for me!